A search and rescue effort is underway after a portion of a condominium building collapsed early Thursday morning in Surfside, a suburb just north of Miami Beach.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said there are 102 survivors so far and 159 people still unaccounted for. Four people are confirmed dead.
Crews with the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to a building near 88 Street & Collins Avenue around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a State of Emergency in Miami-Dade County while crews continue to work.
The search and rescue efforts of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue workers are now all shifted to the rubble, Chief Ray Jadallah said.
“The entire building — the portion that’s still standing — was cleared by rescue crews. So at this point now, all resources have been shifted to the rubble, including from above and from below,” he said Friday.
There are currently a total of 130 firefighters working search and rescue on site, county officials said.
Jadallah said rescue teams on Friday will “have heavy machinery on scene to start pulling some of the superficial metal from above” at the collapse site.
The additional machinery will help crews “start looking for additional voids from above,” he said.
“We are listening for sounds, it’s not specifically, you know human sounds, it could be…not necessarily tapping, it could be steel…it could be some of the debris kind of raining down,” said Jadallah.
Jadallah said crews continue to hear noises and heard different sounds coming from the rubble throughout the night.
“We concentrated in those areas from below, we continue with using like machinery saws jackhammers as we continue to tunnel through underneath,” said Jadallah.
“We are going to work as hard as we can to continue our search and rescue effort that is our priority, that is where we’re focused, and protecting our first responders who are on this,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
An emergency fund has been set up by Chabad of Bal Harbour to assist the victims and their families.
Please say Tehillim for the following who are are missing:
Please pray for:
Moshe ben Toba
Moshe ben Shoshana
Ariel Leib ben Ita
Ilan ben Kalman
Leib ben Shoshana
Chaim ben Sara
Malka bas Sara Rochel
Yisroel Tzvi Yosef ben Toba
Ita bas Miriam
Tzvi Daniel ben Yehudis
Sara bat Ida
Nancy bas Sofia
Franky ben Nancy
Jay ben Nancy
Deborah bat Haia
Yehuda Arye Ben Feiga Rivka
Rut bat Sara
Nicole bat Andrea
Mikael ben Hans
Gabriela bat Sara
Linda bas Clara
Ilan ben Ronit
Deborah bat Clara
Yaakov Reuvein HaCohen ben Devorah
Tzvi hakohen ben Devorah
Estella bas Linda Leah
Lein ben Ilana
Debora bat Sara
Yehudis bas Dvora
VIDEO:
They need to get Helicopters to assist in lifting the heavy debris from above the wreckage.
This can save lives.
Cranes would probably be simpler and more efficient
One professional said they need to be careful it is like pickup sticks.
wonder why they are not calling in crews and bringing in heavy machinery from around the country
lives can be saved especially earlier than later
If they pull one wrong piece everything else can collapse. They need to be really careful as much as we all just want to run in there in case it leads to even more lives lost ch”v
Heavy machinery could make it more complicated with ppl there
What Hashem is trying to tell us. This is the third recent tragedy of very similar nature
Wake up Yidden! We need to unite. Practice Ahavas Chinam! To bring the Geula and Bayis Shlishi.
The 2and Mikdash was destroyed because of Sinaxs Chinam!
Please let us spread the message of Ahavas Chinam and not tolerate Bullying of others. Adults be role models for children and let us wage the war against the Yetzer Hara… end speaking negatively about others, stop gossip, be Dan kal H’adom L’kaf zechus, learn Hilchos Shmiras Halashon.
#United in prayer #United w Love for each and every fellow Jew. Including your own family- yes your parents, sisters, brothers!
I wonder if they drain out the water – as people may be trapped under the water line.
why is everyone here mentioning all these stuff about heavy machinery etc. what we need is to unite as am israel under one banner not many daven daven to hashem that moshiach should come and all the missing people should be found
ad mosai we cant wait any longer